Modelling Cavitating Flows using an Eulerian-Lagrangian Approach and a Nucleation Model

Abstract

An Eulerian/Lagrangian multi-scale two-phase flow model is developed to simulate the various types of cavitation including bubble, sheet, and tip vortex cavitation. Sheet cavitation inception, unsteady breakup, and cloud shedding on a hydrofoil are used as an example here. No assumptions are needed on mass transfer between phases; instead, the method tracks bubble nuclei, which are in the bulk of the liquid and those generated by nucleation from solid boundaries and this is- sufficient to accurately capture the sheet dynamics. The multi-scale model includes a micro-scale model for tracking the bubbles, a macro-scale model for describing large cavity dynamics and a transition scheme to bridge the micro and macro scales. Nuclei are treated as flow singularities until they grow into large bubbles, which eventually merge to form a large scale discretised sheet cavity. The sheet performs large scale oscillations with a periodic reentrant jet forming under the sheet cavity, traveling upstream, and breaking the cavity. This results in bubble cloud formation and in high pressure peaks as the broken pockets shrink and collapse while travelling downstream. The results for a NACA0015 foil are in good agreement with the experimental data.